real-life Vineland, cont'd

[Doug Millison]

 TV head praises U.S. drug policy

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - The head of the most popular television
network among teen-age girls says the government should be
congratulated - not condemned - for trying to insert anti-drug
messages in the plots of TV comedies and dramas. The WB network twice
sought the advice of President Clinton's anti-drug counselors on
scripts for its primetime shows. But Jamie Kellner, The WB's chief
executive, said Monday the network received no financial benefit for
pushing a message that discourages drug use. "I look at this as the
government being very clever in trying to find a way to get a message
out that we totally support," Kellner said.

The WB consistently has one of network TV's youngest audiences,
appealing particularly to teen-age girls with shows like "Dawson's
Creek." The two programs where it sought government advice on scripts
were "The Wayans Brothers" and "Smart Guy." Clinton's Office of
National Drug Control Policy never asked to see WB scripts in advance
- in the two applicable cases, the network volunteered them, Kellner
said. ABC executives said over the weekend that they became
uncomfortable with Clinton's advisers asking to see scripts of shows
before they aired. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2563396134-69b